Support art: "The Last 5 Years."

How often do two people try to put on a full-fledged musical production completely on their own? Not very often, but it's up and happenin' in the SCU Theatre Department.

Faced with the task of putting together a vocal recital for their senior year projects, students Blake Coelho and Marisa Illo set their sights on something bigger: Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years. The musical requires a cast of only two. And, as theatre kids, finding people willing to direct and stage manage behind the scenes would be a breeze.

It all sounded too good to be true. The hitch? Well, what else? Funding.


Blake and Marisa as Trevor Graydon and Mrs. Meers in last year's mainstage production of Thoroughly Modern Millie.
With their minds made up, Blake and Marisa created an IndieGoGo campaign to raise money for their ambitious plan. Here is an excerpt from that page:

Our names are Blake Coelho and Marisa Illo and we are seniors at Santa Clara University studying Theatre Arts and Music. As seniors we are given the opportunity to create and perform our own senior recitals showcasing the skills we have acquired during our time at SCU. We are taking advantage of this opportunity and have decided to turn our individual recitals into a joint production of a musical theatre show called “The Last 5 Years” by Jason Robert Brown.  The plot and music has truly spoken to us, and we want to share our passion for this story with others. Although we typically see ourselves as actors and singers we are now taking on the roles of director, stage managers, producers, designers, and so much more.
Because this is our senior project, we cannot charge for admission.  Therefore we need to fund the show through only donations. We were surprised to discover the costliness of putting on this production, however we will not let this stand in our way.  We need your help in order to make this dream a reality.

After reading that, how could you not consider donating a couple bucks to the cause? In thanks, Blake and Marisa are not only willing to guarantee you seats to the show but also will include your name in the program. How's that for karma? Give up today's Starbucks money and suddenly you're a bona fide benefactor and philanthropist!

Click here to read more about Blake and Marisa's production of "The Last 5 Years" to see how you can help out. They have just under sixty days to reach their goal and you could be a part of it!